Multi-Instit. Decentralized Drinking Water

Drinking water scarcity in Kachchh is a historical phenomenon. Being geo climatically one of the harshest regions of India, in every decade it experiences only 3 normal and 1 above average rainfall years. Such low rainfall (annual average of 312 mm ) is primarily because of its geographical location as it forms a contiguous land mass with the Arid and Semi Arid regions of Thar Desert in Rajasthan. Hence ‘complete failure of rains once in 3 years is a part of the cultural knowledge for Kachchhis” . An analysis of 110 years of rainfall data corroborates that low rainfall has been a leitmotif in the Kachchh landscape.

Kachchh experiences the highest air temperature in the month of May with temperatures ranging from 40°C-45°C. High temperature coupled with dry weather causes high evaporation from surface water, which measures up to 8 feet per annum. The quantitative constraints are further compounded by a qualitative one. The Kachchh landmass owes its geo morphological existence to a marine environment which results in largely saline groundwater reserves. Hence poor surface water resources coupled with unavailability of potable groundwater has left its meagre annual rainfall as Kachchh’s only renewable natural source of water.

Understandably, communities in Kachchh have developed coping mechanisms over the years. Both demographic and livelihood strategies are optimized according to natural landscape limits. Low population density (33 persons per sq km ), small and scattered settlements and animal husbandry as a major occupation are all geared towards such an end. Potable water was usually sourced from small ponds and tanks. However, locally devised techniques of tapping sweet water was done through virda’s. “Virda’s” or shallow dug wells tap potable water at upper reaches of an aquifer (1-4 metres) as deeper down (<4m) one discovers saline water. Rainwater harvesting through ponds and lakes has also been a traditional process. Usually well off individuals in earlier times constructed such catchment structures out of charity. They served a key purpose in attending to livestock water requirement. Incidentally the livestock human ratio in Kachchh is 1:0.89 and pastoralism has always been a sustainable livelihood option.

Need for food sufficiency in post independent India led to large scale State supported irrigation initiatives. This tilted a considerable section of the populace towards agriculture. Surfeit of irrigation projects were sanctioned and diesel operated pumps entered the region. Understandably, this weakened the resource base. Meanwhile concern for public health due to high mortality from water borne diseases, ushered in government entry into drinking water. Piped drinking water was introduced as a result through Regional Water Supply Schemes (RWSS), which were heavily dependant on available groundwater. Of the total 948 villages in Kachchh, 787 were deemed “no source” . As of now 113 villages are covered under RWSS and 126 under the Integrated Water Supply Scheme (IWSS) . However, inefficient management and rapidly dwindling groundwater levels affected sustainable supply. The Narmada Water Board Drinking Water Pipeline Project (a.k.a N.P) was a corrective step which rationalized the use of Narmada water for dependable water supply and promised coverage of entire Kachchh district. The N.P project also witnessed an institutional delivery mechanism as Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB); Gujarat Water Infrastructure Limited (GWIL) and Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) were introduced at meso and micro levels to manage and deliver.

Needless to say, such large scale techno bureaucratic solutions assumed the absence of local water sources and traditional water wisdom of local communities. As later studies revealed, “all N.P project villages had (read have) local sources of water supply, with many villages having more than one source” . Disregard for traditional coping mechanisms for water stress saw a steady decline of virda’s and ponds. Need and application of sustainable management of groundwater also witnessed a downturn. Simultaneously, the N.P project also witnessed serious bottlenecks. The entire project was to be completed by the end of the 10th Plan but severe shortage of funds halted its progress. Alongside, delivery through regional pipeline schemes was impeded due to irregular supply of electricity, poor maintenance of pipelines and breakages and thefts . The most critical issue, as pointed out in studies , is that of inter and intra village equity in distribution.

In such a context, an alternative solution was the need of the hour for communities in Kachchh. Search for the same led to a multi institutional decentralized solution space under the aegis of the Pani thiye panjo programme.

Goals overview

The goal of this programme is to influence the state by setting an example, of a reasonable scale, that demonstrates that source development and the governance of safe drinking water can be technically and administratively devolved to the village/town level. This will set an example, and enforce the countries resolve to strengthen the local self governance bodies. It will also break the myth that arid, drought prone areas cannot independantly satisfy their domestic water needs.

Current status

Construction activities (well and recharge pit construction) completed in 18 villages
7 Villages have started collecting Water Tariffs
31 Village Level Meetings have been organized
44 Pani Samiti Meetings Organized
16 Panchayat meetings organized
11 women’s leadership meetings and training programmes organized
45 villages has been selected for baseline data collection
Mass awareness of the PTP programme was done through
printed materials in Ujjas Patrika
Community Radio programme for larger dissemination of the programme. 24 episodes of 30 minutes have been planned
Studies related to Preparation of Guideline for Drinking Water Protection in Abdasa Taluka partly completed
Technical Survey of 5 villages completed
Preparation of plan and estimate has been completed in 10 villages

Project plan

A short duration of one and a half years has been planned to implement the project in about 135 of the 165 villages of Abdasa. The programme is designed to be developed as a campaign to set up a demand for such an approach, first in the Taluka and then in the District. The approach of the programme will have four important components:

• Bringing several partners together to bring professional inputs into the programme,
• Constant sharing of experiences within the Taluka,
• Capacity building of panchayats, women and technical knowledge in the taluka,
• Raising of issues, and sharing of experiences outside the taluka.

The mobilization strategy will focus on first identifying the leadership in the taluka. The key people in the Panchayats, women and village leaders in the Pani Samitis will be identified and hence forth the responsibilities and inputs will be shared with this critical group. This group of leaders will go through structured trainings conducted by Hriday and the Socio-enviro cell of sahjeevan, and the Panchayat cell of KMVS.

The two years of the project period will be divided into short campaigns of four to six months, in which a sub theme of water will be taken up, like self sufficiency, good governance and management, good quality and sanitation etc. The sub theme will be taken up for developing an understanding, knowledge creation and implementation during that period of time. The different resource groups and partners will focus the sub theme topic with their respective leaders to create synergy and bring different perspectives and experiences forward. While the panchayat, gender and technical groups will focus on their leader groups, the mass media will take their messages and views to the public at large through the radio, ‘ujjas’ magazine, street plays, posters and lok diaras. The community radio uses local youth trained as reporters and the musicians and singers of the district develop stories and songs borrowing from the culture and tradition of the region. The rural women’s collective of an adjoining taluka, Mundra has been publishing a magazine called ‘Ujjas’, they will add a supplement on water for the next two years and increase its circulation to cover all the villages of Abdasa. A special focus has been planned for the children and youth of the region. The learning will also be shared in seminars and meetings for the government and other stakeholders in the district and state.

It is proposed that a seminar will be conducted at the end of each sub theme. This is an approach that has been tried and developed for implementing projects on a larger scale by these partners, in earlier programmes like the Drought Proofing Programme coordinated by Abhiyan. A technical office will be setup in Abdasa that will be run by ‘para water technicians’. These are youth from the region that will be trained by ACT to be qualified to identify aquifers, develop plans and proposals, prepare costs and estimates, and hand hold implementation. ACT has already trained 64 such youth in the district, some of whom will join this office, and still others will be trained under this programme. The panchayats can avail the services of these youth on payment to help them prepare and implement their plans.

The taluka will be divided into 4-6 clusters whose leaders will meet regularly to share their experiences, learn from one another, and build a healthy competition amongst them selves. The senior women’s collective members of Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan will take responsibility for involving and motivating the women, in each village, to take active part in the decision making and management of the drinking water system.

This year all the villages of the taluka are going to have their elections. The new panchayat will be trained in procedure using the implementation of the drinking water programme in their village. It will also use this programme to build transparency of finances, information and decision making in the panchayat. The panchayat will pass a resolution setting up the pani samiti and vest it with the powers to implement the project, collect taxes and manage the drinking water scheme. Efforts will be made to ensure that the responsible women of the village are in the pani samitis, besides those in the panchayats.

Expected outcomes

• Water systems in 135 villages, at least 70 litres/day
• Get a draft legal strategy is developed to protect aquifers
• Get 25% of water infra. in villages financially viable
• 30 installations are designed and implemented by para-techs
• 75% of village panchayats put pani samitis as legal samitis

1. The Pani Samitis and their project for the village will be approved in the gram sabha. It is mandatory for the Panchayats to appoint Pani Samiti’s. This lends legal validity to these institutions to some extent.
2. The financial routing takes place between WASMO and the Pani Samiti. This gives greater ownership over management and planning of the project at the grassroots
3. Households will contribute at least 10% of the implementation cost of the project and the regular water tax for operation and maintenance. This will also ensure ownership to a large extent.
4. Presence of para water technicians (parabs) at the village level and their collaboration with Pani Samiti’s will ensure continuous inputs and tackling issues related to technology/management
5. The project is based on areas where groundwater aquifers have been mapped. Hence wells, recharge pits will yield optimal water. Norms on use established at the village level will ensure that conflicts related to competing use will be addressed accordingly (through institutions and norms). Norms on use will also lead to sustainable use of water.